This week saw me develop my research topic, alongside a guest lecture about Critical Worlding.
This week I conducted an interview with Derek Holzer. We discussed the various research topics he has conducted, as well as the themes regarding my project. One example would be his research into the history of the vocoder and how its original use was as a voice scrambling device in World War 2. He mentioned that military and telecommunications are the driving force behind information technology – the majority of the time artists merely provide a commentary. An example of this was the first example of computers and how they were designed for military use. They were used for several purposes, such as calculating the trajectory of ballistic missiles by determining the force and angle in which they need to be fired in order to accurately hit a target. This same principle can be applied to vector graphics, as it involves calculations of its current location, the angle in which it is headed and its magnitude. Another example Holzer mentioned was how one of the first computers were designed to provide the calculations necessary for creating the atomic bomb.
I also conducted research into the themes framing my project, in particular the text ‘What is Media Archaeology’ by Jussi Parikka. Parikka mentions how the process of media archaeology forms a counterpoint to the narrative in media history. It critiques the idea that current technology is the best by highlighting failed, imaginary or suppressed projects. This relates in a sense as to why people such as myself are interested in obsolete technology such as the CRT and the oscilloscope, and how it operates in a different paradigm to what we are used to. We are used to screens operating in pixels – an interesting element of early vector graphics is that it can be created with audio, displaying a visual output through beams of light rather than a predetermined grid of squares.
This week also saw us take part in a guest lecture with the artist and researcher Rachel Falconer, discussing the topic of ‘Critical Worlding’ and its relation to virtual reality. One of the major questions posed by Falconer in the lecture was:
· How do you create a sense of presence within a world? Is it necessitated by the fidelity of visual realism – or is it more about a feeling of “being there”?
The feeling of presence within a world for me is the interaction you have within the world and the sense of freedom you believe you have available. This is something that can be displayed quite effectively if you were to compare the video games Red Dead Redemption 2 and The Legend Of Zelda: Breath Of The Wild. They are both similar in the sense that they are open world games that strive for immersion, however I feel that Breath of The Wild succeeds in this significantly more than the former. This is due to the level of interaction and the freedom available to the user. Despite the level of visual realism in Red Dead Redemption 2, I feel it fails to truly be immersive, as it consistently attempts to control how you interact with the world and the missions in its storyline. I feel that by comparing these examples it becomes clear that you don’t necessarily need a photorealistic render in order for it to have an effective sense of presence.
References
https://howtowreckanicebeach.com/
https://mediaarchaeologyreconfigured.files.wordpress.com/2017/12/parikka-cartographies-media.pdf